More shell casings found at Harvard schools

HARVARD – A Harvard Junior High School student was charged with disorderly conduct after police said he brought three .30-caliber shell casings to school Wednesday.

Harvard police were called to Crosby Elementary School and Harvard Junior High School at 8:10 a.m. for a report of shell casings found on a bus at the elementary school and in a men’s bathroom at the junior high, according to a news release.

Students at all five Harvard District 50 schools were kept in their classrooms as officials searched the schools. No suspicious items, activity or people were found.

Investigators later determined that a 12-year-old junior high school student had taken the three shells to school to show his classmates, Harvard police Chief Dan Kazy-Garey said. The student took the shells from his home. After losing a shell on the bus, the student discarded the other two at school, police said.

“The kid brought them to school to show his friends,” ­Kazy-Garey said. “The shells had been collected from an exhibition, where the bullets were expelled.”

School resumed for all District 50 students about 9:45 a.m.

It was the second time this week that students were kept in their classrooms after a shell casing was found.

Maintenance staff at Crosby Elementary School on Monday found a .22-caliber shell casing on the cafeteria floor. That caused administrators to keep students in their classrooms for more than an hour while police searched the building.